Self-timer, pt. III

If I spoke German, I’d cobble together one of those hyper-specific contraction/combo words to describe the ‘Oh shit!’ moment that many young female photographers have when they notice how much attention their work gets when they turn the lens on themselves and forgo enough clothing to make their moms blanch. There’s magic in the innocence of their enthusiasm.

I wouldn’t create a word to encapsulate the inevitable realization that most people are clamoring for the guilt-free titillation instead of the art of it all. That part’s too much of a bummer.

~

In the same vein, some of my most-viewed photos on Flickr are ones that show my brother’s underwear as it stands above his sagging trousers (nearly unavoidable in shots where his back is to the camera, natch). Those pictures often end up in ‘favorites’ collections like this or this.

So, when might young male photographers routinely harness this ‘sexy youth self-portrait’ phenomena to the same degree as their female peers? (I know it already happens on progressive sites like Nerve and whatnot, but I guess I’m looking to places like Flickr and DeviantArt as totems of the mainstream.) Ten years? Twenty? I guess this boils down to a question of changing sexual mores. Whoops.

The funny subtext here is that this hungry, exploitive audience is so male, gay or straight. I applaud the women reading this who enthusiastically own up to their libido, but damn, how long is it going to take for the fairer sex to catch up in terms of thinking with one’s crotch? What portion of the world’s pornography intentionally and un-ironically courts women? And don’t give me that old, tired shit about the male body being comparatively unattractive—boners can be plenty handsome, and deep inside even the most chaste nuns there are a few primal neurons dedicated to this knowledge.

Goddamnit, this ended up being way too long to have any sort of impact.